DATELINE Season Premiere Bests Year-Ago Debut in 18-49

From 8-9 p.m. ET, encore telecasts of "The Michael J. Fox Show" (0.8/3 in 18-49, 4.0 million viewers overall at 8; 0.8/3 in 18-49, 4.0 million viewers overall at 8:30) generated NBC's top total-viewer result in the hour in three months (since "Dateline" averaged 5.3 million viewers from 8-9 onJune 28) and beat NBC's 2012-13 season average in the Friday 8-9 p.m. time period by 10% (4.006 million vs. 3.629 million, L+SD non-sports). In adults 18-49, the "Michael J. Fox Show" rebroadcasts matched NBC's second-highest rating in the hour in three months. From its first half-hour to its second, the "Michael J. Fox Show" encores maintained 100% of their rating in adults 18-49 and grew 9% in adults 25-54 (to a 1.2 rating from a 1.1).

The season premiere of "Dateline NBC" (1.3/4 in 18-49, 6.5 million viewers overall from 9-11 p.m. ET) tied the show's year-ago premiere rating in 18-49 (1.3 from 10-11 p.m. on Sept. 28, 2012) and is up 36% in total viewers (6.526 million vs. 4.807 million).

Looking specifically at this year's 10 p.m. hour versus last year's 10-11 p.m. edition of "Dateline," this year's premiere is up 15% in 18-49 rating (1.5 from 10-11 p.m. vs. 1.3) and up 43% in total viewers (6.865 million vs. 4.807 million).

From its first half-hour to its fourth, "Dateline NBC" grew by 36% in adults 18-49 (to a 1.5 rating from a 1.1), by 35% in adults 25-54 (2.3 vs. 1.7) and 20% or 1.2 million persons in total viewers (to 6.9 million from 5.7 million). For its second hour from 10-11 p.m. ET, "Dateline" out-rated ABC's "20/20" in adults 18-49, adults 25-54, total viewers and other key measures.

In the 10:30 lead-in to local news, "Dateline NBC" tied for #1 in the key news demo of adults 25-54 among ABC, CBS and NBC (2.3 rating each for "Dateline" and CBS's "Blue Bloods"), eliminating a 14% advantage for "Blue Bloods" in the prior half-hour (2.5 vs. 2.2).

For the night, NBC finished within a tenth of a rating point of its year-ago premiere-week Friday average in 18-49 (1.1 vs. 1.2) and was up 32% in total viewers (5.686 million vs. 4.316 million). NBC has been up versus premiere-week 2012 on five of five nights thus far in total viewers.

In Late-Night Metered Markets Friday night:

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.8/7; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.4/6; and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.8/5 with an encore.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 0.9/4; "Late Show," 0.4/2; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.5/3 with an encore.

From 12:35-1:05 a.m. ET, ABC's "Nightline" averaged a 1.2/4 in metered-market households and a 0.3/2 in 18-49 in the Local People Meters.

From 12:35-1:35 a.m. ET, "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.5/5 in metered-market households) beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.2/4). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.6/4 in 18-49) topped "Late Late Show" (0.3/2).

At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.9/3 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.4/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

NOTE: All ratings are "live plus same day" from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise indicated.

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